The Gift of Christmas
by fanheartfiction
Summary: The team is spending Christmas at Peter's house this year. Each of them discover new things about each other as they bond over the holiday season. They realize that even though many of them have lost their families, they can find a new one in each other. I hope you like it. Please read and review. I am always open for new story ideas.
1. The Gift of Christmas

It was two days before Christmas and Peter was sure he had never been this excited. He had always wanted to have a big family to celebrate the holidays with, but had never had the opportunity. This year Ava, Danny, Luke and Sam were all spending Christmas with him. They had tried to hide it, but he knew that they were all secretly glad to have people to celebrate Christmas with. He hummed with contentment. Every year he waited until the last possible moment to find gifts for people; this year he had gotten them way ahead of time. No way would he be caught unprepared.  
He bounced around the house singing off-tune Christmas carols as he hung lights from every available surface. Aunt May wasn't home, so he used his Spidey powers to string lights in unbelievable ways and places. He hung stars on the walls and placed mini elves on the kitchen counters.  
He suddenly picked up a slight change in the air. He became instantly alert, pausing with a plush Santa in one hand and a plastic reindeer in another. He had been sure no one was home.  
"Why are you here?" Peter asked, directing his voice to nowhere in particular.  
A familiar shape stepped out of the shadows.  
"The joyful energy you are exuding was calling to me. Do you wish for assistance?"  
Peter grinned and began stringing tinsel across the ceiling. "Of course! Can you do colors? We only have white lights."

Danny frowned. "What do you mean, 'do colors'?  
Peter looked at the floor guiltily. "I may or may not have stolen your blood sample from biology lab."  
Danny shook his head, frowning. "Peter, you cannot even steal pizza from the refrigerator without Aunt May finding out; how did you take an ounce of blood from under my nose."  
Peter twisted a strand of tinsel around his finger. "Sam did it for me, but don't worry, I took some from everybody. That's probably why you never got your blood test results back."  
Danny looked shocked. "I thought I just had hard blood to decode."  
Peter rolled his eyes and came down from the ceiling. "Really Danny, it's been three months. You're Type AB positive."  
Danny sighed happily. "Oh good, I was very worried that perhaps I did not have a type. Now how do I do the lights?"

Peter folded Danny's hand until only the index finger was sticking out. "Now activate your Iron Fist."  
Danny obeyed.  
"Good, now just walk around the room and touch the lights. Just think of different colors." Apparently Peter thought Danny had understood, for he sprung back onto the ceiling and resumed his decorating.

Danny concentrated hard. Surely he would have known if he had another use for his power. And he certainly would have found out before Peter did. _Green_. He thought. _Bright, neon, green._. He gasped. His hand lit up, almost blinding him with the brightness. Instead of the usual amber yellow; his whole hand was glowing a beautiful, vibrant, green.

Danny stared wonder. It was a most useless power, but could be very entertaining. _I want red. A happy, cheerful red that will bring us together._ His hand shifted to a darker hue and he held it up with a childish joy. He began thinking of color after color, flashing through the rainbow with incredible speeds. He laughed out loud. This was fun, and it felt like it had been a long time since he had done something simply for the joy of it.

Peter hopped down from his perch on the ceiling, and watched Danny almost giggling with glee. He was glad Danny was able to find something simple that gave him happiness. Too often the K'un-Lun hero took it upon himself to keep others happy and never allowed himself the same pleasure.

Danny took his now blue hand and grasped one of the lights. It slowly turned to a beautiful ocean blue. The teen looked at Peter with awe. "How did you know I could do this?"

"After I was able to attain access to your blood sample," Peter rubbed the back of his head apologetically. "I was able to cross-reference your DNA with some S.H.I.E.L.D files I found when I was helping Doctor Connors. It turns out your Iron Fist is not just iron; it can also transfer energy to different things. I thought it was pretty cool."  
Danny smiled as he touched the next light, turning it a splendid shade of orange. "I must admit, I do not see how this could benefit us in a fight, but-" Danny broke off to touch another light slightly higher up. "It is very amusing."  
Peter grinned. "I think your energy transfer can only work with things that can conduct energy. Things like gold, wire, and most electronics should be fine. I bet you could even use it on people."

For the next hour they worked in a companionable silence each of them content with their jobs.  
Soon after they had finished, Peter with the ceiling and Danny with the lights; Sam, Luke, and Ava came tramping in.  
Peter squealed. "Be careful! You're tracking snow all over the floor!"  
Ava flicked his ear. "Relax mama bear, we'll clean it up."  
Luke took off his boots and put a large amount of packages on the table. "All the things we need for Christmas cookies."  
Meanwhile, Sam was walking around touching the decorations. "Wow guys! This looks, like, totally amazing! How'd you get colored lights; I thought you only had white?"

Danny smiled. "I want to show you something, my friends." Danny lit his hand. "Look what Peter taught me to do." Danny reached out his hand focusing on the energy coming from his friends. As usual, Ava seemed to have the most. The blonde teen grinned, intent on mischief for the first time in his life.  
"Ava, hold out your hand."  
She eyed him distrustfully, but decided to stick it out anyway. Danny waved his arms in the air. "Sihir kepada cahaya!" Then, with great caution he slowly brought his hands down to hover over Ava's.  
Peter gave him a questioning glance. Danny shook his head, begging him to go along with his eyes. Peter played along; it wasn't often Danny did something just to be mischievous. Pete figured he'd better ride this new wave while it lasted.

"Very good Danny," Peter said. "Now clap your hands together."  
Danny winked at him and did as his 'teacher' commanded. As Danny clapped his hands over Ava's, she gradually began to turn from a light tanned color into a shimmering navy blue.  
She shrieked and jumped away from Danny. "What did you do?"  
Peter's lips twitched and Luke looked like he was holding an elephant in his lungs.  
Sam struggled to maintain his composure. "Why the long face Ava? Are you feeling a little blue?"

And with that comment they were gone, crying with laughter. After a few minutes even Ava joined in and laughed until her stomach hurt. The team rolled around on the floor like children watching a slap-stick comedy. It wasn't Ava's color that had them laughing, although that was most certainly a part of it. They were laughing because they hadn't laughed in so long, that once they started they couldn't stop. It felt so good to be happy, and none of them wanted it to end.


	2. The Gift of Christmas Part 2

**Hey Guys! I know it's not Christmas, but I got a request for this story, and I thought it would be a cool one to write about. I hope you like this chapter. Please read and review. Love you guys!**

The next day, Christmas Eve, the team really got to work. They woke early that morning, wanting to finish decorations as soon as possible. After about two hours everyone was done, and the house looked splendid. Dancing reindeer, white lights, and inflatable Santas adorned the lawn; the inside lights sparkled and shined with different colors, casting everyone into a colorful glow; and Luke and Sam's cookies filled the house with the scent of ginger and cinnamon.

They all stood back for a moment, peering through the windows and through the house. It looked wonderful. Santa might have even mistook it for his own house. Even Sam had to admit it was the best decorated house in town. The five superheroes sat together and admired their hard work.  
Peter stood up. "Only one thing left to do!" He opened a cabinet and brought out a ton sparkly white paper. With the other hand he groped around until he was able to stumble upon some scissors. "Snowflakes!" He cried merrily, tossing handfuls of paper in the air.

Everyone laughed. It was so rare to see their leader take off the mantle of responsibility he seemed to be married to, and allow himself to be silly. Ava bent down and collected the pieces of paper Peter had strewn about the floor. When the pile was once more positioned in a nice stack, they began to cut and fold.  
Luke grabbed a piece of paper. "How many points on the star? Do you want 4, 6, or 8?"  
Peter thought for a minute. "Let's do 6 _and_ 8! That way they will all be different."  
The team had been cutting and folding for a while, before they noticed Danny sitting uncomfortably near the end of the table. He was awkwardly holding a piece of paper a pair of scissors.

Sam frowned. "What's up Fortune Cookie?"  
Danny's cheeks flushed a light crimson. "I am not familiar with this Christmas practice. We never used these in K'un-Lun; no one wanted to decorate with fake snow when the real thing was so plentiful outside."  
Sam nodded his head in sympathy. "Yeah, I never understood why we put paper snow on the inside of our house either. I mean, talk about crazy."

Luke scooted his chair over. "Here man, you're holding the scissors like they're a weapon, just cut."  
Sam walked over to Danny's chair. "Here, I'll show you. I used to do this all the time with my little sister."  
Ava smiled. "Yeah, me and my dad used to make cat shaped snowflakes and put them on the windows."  
Luke laughed. "I can one-up you all. My mom and dad used to mix compounds to make foam ones. I used to pour the beakers together and think it was magic when foam snowflakes boiled over."  
Danny got into the spirit too. "Before my brother Scorpion became evil, we used to engrave large ones into the mountains." Danny held out his hands. "We would make them large enough for a whole house."  
Peter grinned at his friends. "I once tried to make snowflake crystallizer so I could keep my frozen snowflakes, but when I tested it I blew Uncle Ben's eyebrows off. Does that count?"  
They continued like that until they had finished the ream of paper Peter had provided. They hung them all over the house; everywhere from the windows to the already decorated Christmas tree. It was a winter wonderland.  
Peter sighed sadly. "I always love the way it looks when we're done decorating, but decorating is my favorite part of Christmas."

Ava shoulder butted him. "Cheer up Parker, we'll do something fun!" She went to the oven and checked on Luke and Sam's cookies. "The cookies only have two minutes left. We should put on a movie and eat them."  
Her proposition was met with unanimous consent. Danny went to go choose a movie, Peter went to go grab bean bags, Ava set out trays, and the remaining two boys took the cookies out of the oven and poured glasses of milk. They all settled on the couch. Danny had picked _A Christmas Story_ claiming that the humorous child on the front compelled him to select it.

Peter suspected it was just because he had never seen it. The team laughed and giggled throughout the movie, not caring how silly or ridiculous they looked. They were enjoying not only the movie, but the feeling of togetherness that most of them had been missing in their lives for so long. When the movie ended, they were all hit with an unreasonable sense of melancholy.

Ava sighed. "I miss my dad so much. Every time Christmas comes, I can't help but remember him." She folded her hands in her lap as Luke spoke.  
"Yeah, my parents used to always take me to this really nerdy, geek fest that I always pretended to hate, but I really loved it. They would make cool Christmas decorations out of sciency stuff, and always let me keep it."  
Danny sighed. "My parents owned a large business, and never got to spend time with me, so Scorpion and I used to always leave K'un-Lun to go watch outsider movies."

Sam smiled sadly too. "Before I became Nova, this was my sister's favorite Christmas movie. Every time someone said, 'You'll shoot your eye out kid.' She would collapse in hysterics."  
Peter understood. "Yeah, when Uncle Ben was still alive, we used to always go sledding whenever it snowed. He used to always pretend to let me steer, and shoot fake bad guys out of the way. We crashed a lot." Peter frowned. "Now I guess I do the real thing."  
Ava smiled. "It's okay, you still crash now too."  
Peter smirked. "May I remind you of Operation Flying Kitty?"  
Ava shrugged. "Point taken."

They continued recounting Christmases of the past, and joking until late into the night. Aunt May would be back just in time for Christmas, and everyone was super excited. Right before they went to bed Ava had given Peter a very heartfelt and completely unexpected compliment. "Peter, I think this really will be the best Christmas ever." And with that pronouncement, she and the others had gone to bed. Peter stayed downstairs for a while, feeling a warm spot growing in his heart.


	3. The Gift of Christmas Part 3

**Hey guys! This is the last chapter. Please review and tell me what you think. This one was a little rushed, so I'm sorry ahead of time. I'll try to be more consistent with postings! You guys are awesome! Thanks!**

The next morning Peter woke to Aunt May standing in a Christmas hat at the foot of his bed. "Merry Christmas Peter." Peter leaped out of bed almost squishing Aunt May in a bear hug… Spider hug?

"Aunt May! You're back!"  
She grinned and pinched his cheek. "Of course I'm back; I told you I'd make it for Christmas! And the decorations look amazing."  
Peter thought his face would break, he was smiling so hard. "I know, it's just now everything is perfect!" Aunt May laughed at her nephew and told him to go wake the others.

"I made a special breakfast." The special breakfast turned out to be bacon (red) and star shaped pancakes (green). She had sprinkled edible glitter on the pancakes, so everyone had sparkly faces before they had finished.  
Danny laughed. "Sam, you look like you have eaten a fairy."  
Sam grinned. "It tasted awesome!"

It was then time for presents, and everyone was excited. The team had arranged to exchange their presents later, because some of their presents would be hard to explain to Aunt May. Aunt May herself, however, received a beautiful new yoga mat, a new bowling ball, and a wonderful pair of gold earrings.

Aunt May had literally jumped for joy. "How did you know what I wanted."  
Ava stood. "Easy, your old yoga mat has so many holes it looks like Swiss cheese, your bowling ball is faded and the finger holes are splintering, and the earrings you usually wear have a broken clasp."

Aunt May grinned. "Thank you guys! And I got all of you something too." To Ava she had given a silver necklace with a cat charm telling the girl that Peter had insisted Ava liked cats. To Luke she had given a brand new copy of the book series he had complained was falling apart. For Danny she had found new jars of incense, this time with lavender, telling him that jasmine just wasn't a scent you could focus your center with. For Sam she had procured a pass for him to come to her Tuesday night cooking classes, seeing as how he was always correcting her cooking. For Peter, last but not least, she gave him something he had been wanting for a while.

"Peter," she said. "I can't give your present to you right now, seeing as it might blow the house up, but I have arranged for you to get that sodium cyanide and ethylene glycol you were wanting." She paused to smile. "Phil told me he knew of a place where he could find some. He offered to let you use…" She stopped mid sentence trying to remember what their principal in disguise had said.  
"Oh yes. He said he was affiliated with an organization called S.H.I.E.L.D that would let you work in the chemical labs with a certified doctor. I thought you would like that."  
Peter pumped his fist into the air. "Oh yeah, access to chem lab with help from Doctor Connors! Total score!"  
Aunt May looked surprised. "You know them?" Peter panicked.

Luckily Ava covered for him. "No he doesn't. Doctor Connors is just slang for…" She looked desperately at Sam.  
He jumped to her rescue. "A lab scientist. Yeah, Doctor Connors is slang for a lab scientist. And I'm sure Pete was just assuming he would be in a chem lab." Sam narrowed his eyes. "Right?"  
Peter nodded his head violently. "Yeah! That was what I meant to say. I get to work in a science lab with a scientist."

Aunt May smiled. "Oh, that's good. I've heard that S.H.I.E.L.D does some pretty dangerous stuff, I'm glad you and your friends aren't a part of it."  
The teens looked at each other trying not to burst out laughing. If only she knew… They spent the rest of Christmas day dancing and talking and walking in the snow. Soon after, they partook in a delicious Christmas dinner and sang carols until they were hoarse. When Aunt May went to bed, the real present exchange began.

Ava had gotten electric points to attach to her claws. She could now disable electronics as well as people. Danny had received and energy belt that blended in with his costume. Now he could take energy from his fist and put it in his belt to store for later. Luke had been given new metal arm bands; his last ones had been destroyed in a fight. Sam's gift was a converter that allowed him to wear his helmet around his wrist as a watch. When he twisted the watch face his helmet sprung to full size. Peter had received a new costume. His costume had thermal upgrades, as well as new resistance, and increased durability.  
They gave each other big hugs. Sam twisted his helmet into a watch. "Even though I didn't imagine this would ever happen, I think this has been the best Christmas ever."  
Danny agreed. "Even though we have lost our families, we have been able to find new ones in each other."  
Ava sighed but was unable to keep the smile off of her face. "I guess this calls for a group hug." Peter and Luke grinned at each other. "I guess it does."


End file.
